In the foodstuffs industry, containers of various sizes, shapes and materials are utilized to hold a variety of food products. One common practice is to enclose the contents within a cardboard (or like material) box, with or without a flexible treated paper or plastic liner. Reclosing the box does not, however, effectively reseal the contents and freshness is difficult to maintain.
Another technique is to provide a thin paper or plastic bag having a shape corresponding generally to a stack of food items, such as crackers, which is subsequently sealed. One or more of such bags is then inserted within an outer container or box. In most instances, the bag is unsealed and often ripped open, and as food items are removed, the upper end of the liner or bag is rolled upon itself to form a smaller package. Again, the mere rolling down of the open portion of the bag does not provide a good seal, and the further enclosure within a box does not measurably improve the seal.
In addition to providing difficulties to the ultimate consumer in terms of reclosure, conventional foodstuff containers sometimes present difficulties to the foodstuff packager. For example, the foodstuff packager will normally purchase large quantities of packaging materials and then fabricate the containers prior to filling them with particular foodstuffs. While some packaging materials (e.g., cardboard or other sheet-like material) may be transported in bulk to the foodstuff packager in an essentially flat (and hence space saving) form, more rigid containers may be required to be transported in an empty state to the food packager thereby wasting valuable shipping space.
The containers according to the present invention are provided so as to solve many of the problems associated with conventional foodstuff packagings (although the containers of this invention may certainly be used commercially in non-foodstuffs industries). For example, the containers of this invention are provided with the means by which effective sealing and reclosure can be accomplished by the ultimate consumer thereby preserving the "freshness" of the container's contents. And, the unique structures of the containers according to the present invention allow the component parts to be shipped in collapsed (and hence space saving) form to the foodstuff packager.
In preferred embodiments, the containers of this invention will include substantially rigid upper and lower portions and a flexible tubular thin film liner portion integrally connected at its upper and lower regions to the rigid upper and lower portions, respectively. The lower rigid portion of the container will include a bottom wall while the upper rigid portion will define an opening to allow access to the container's contents held within the thin film liner portion. A lid is preferably provided so as to be in friction fit with opening defined in the rigid upper portion and thus provide a means to reclose the container.
Important to the present invention, a rigid sleeve member is positioned between the rigid upper and lower portions so as to maintain longitudinal separation of the same and to enclose the thin film liner portion. In this regard, the upper and lower rigid portions are each preferably provided with opposing annular ledge surfaces against which the upper and lower edges of the sleeve member seat.
The sleeve member is moreover preferably sized so that when its upper and lower edges are seated against the respective annular ledge surfaces of the upper and lower rigid portions, a longitudinal tension force will be exerted upon the thin film liner portion. In this manner, the sleeve member will be positionally retained between the rigid upper and lower portions and will, moreover, be positively coupled thereto by virtue of the tension force exerted upon the thin film liner portion. That is, the upper and lower rigid portions will be seated tightly and securely against the upper and lower edges, respectively, due to the tension force biasing the opposing annular ledge surfaces thereof towards one another and compressively against respective edges of the sleeve member.
The sleeve member, however, does not necessarily need to exert such a tension force upon the thin film liner portion. In this regard, the containers of this invention may conveniently be provided with a sleeve member, and the means to immovably affix the same to the upper and lower rigid portions of the inner container body (e.g., via a suitable adhesive and/or heat-seal bond). In such a manner, the sleeve will maintain the spatial separation as between the rigid upper and lower portions.
These aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent after careful consideration is given to the following detailed description of the preferred exemplary embodiments.